Academy Days
by WriterDrone61
Summary: Data at the Academy. That is it. Starting with year one, days of note. Tries to stick to established canon, though there isn't much. No pairings, just fun, personal exploration and a few misunderstandings.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I had to revise this chapter because it s really hard to not use contractions in writing and I missed a lot in this chapter. ReRead all the things! I think I got them all. Man I really ballsed that up.

I sat there quite puzzled at the reaction Devon was having. I had only been assigned to this room for six week, three days, eleven hours and six minutes. It was time for my room mates to go to bed. Devon seemed to be having difficulty.

"Data. You can't be in here while I sleep."

"I do not understand why. You have told me before that you do not like me to use the nights to study, as the computer keeps you awake. You have also said, on more than one occasion, I may not sit at the table. I am to lay on my bed with my eyes closed." Devon was an odd man. We had gone through this argument in many iterations. I was taking many more lessons than others so I needed time to go over recorded classes I could not attend and do the coursework. It was not about studying, it was just about getting all the work done. I had spent my nights at the screen doing various work. I also had a small job with the registration offices, helping make their system more efficient.

Devon had taken issue, quite understandably to the light of the computer. He had gotten angry after three nights. I had taken to sitting quietly. Curfew was at eleven and everyone had to be in their rooms. Devon had also had issue with this because, even when I was sitting quietly, I was working, Devon said my eyes were open and it bothered him. So I closed my eyes, but I was still sitting. It turned out that Devon was just very intolerant of my presence.

"I might be able to find some special circumstance to be out after curfew, but it will take time." I said, trying to find an agreeable solution. I liked having a room and a bed, even if I did not use it much. A room meant a place to keep my things. I did not have a lot, but I had books, papers, experiments, and some awards from last quarter. My first quarter was spent with the family of a counselor. Everyone was uncertain if I could even attend Starfleet Academy. Talarui was who I stayed with, she was an older woman with six adopted kids. She treated me like her children. She had infinite patience, as evidenced by her having simultaneously raised two Vulcans, one human, a Klingon and two Belegusian children. I had met them all and, with her patience, she had managed to help each one keep their cultural identity. She fascinated me.

Devon did not pause. He told me that he wanted me to transfer rooms. It would be my third transfer this quarter. Everyone seemed to have different issues with my being here. Most of them seemed to be centered around the word "creepy" or "nark." I do not understand how the words apply to me, but I do know they give my peers distress. I try to avoid that because humans become hostile when they get uncomfortable.

I looked around the room, everyone was sitting in their bunks. While not everyone outwardly agreed, no one protested to the suggestion.

"I understand" was all I said before leaving the room. I had tried to stay the first time this happened and it lead to at least one violent outburst in which part of my face was destroyed. It had taken three weeks to learn how to repair it, as I discovered I had no idea what my skin was made of. Those three weeks had not helped my image among my classmates, save those in the robotics department who were very keen on getting a look at me.

I walked to the residential office to ask for a transfer.

"You're back" the receptionist said.

"I am sorry, sir. I knew how invested you were in that assignment working." He got to his computer to look for another room with an opening.

"Alright. I've found one. Your second major is Probability Mechanics. There is a group of Vulcans in your class. We tend to room Vulcans together because they adopt..." The receptionist paused as though what he was going to say was rude "very different behavior from humans when they are at the Academy."

"How so, sir?" I inquired.

"Well, Vulcan schools run on a different schedule. They run for five days, and then spend three sleeping while they are in school there. So when they are here, they stay awake during the five days classes run and sleep on the weekends."

"That sounds very agreeable. Please tell me if they agree."

"They should still be in their room if you would like to ask yourself." The receptionist offered. I sat in front of him at the chair.

"I do not believe I would know how. My knowledge of Vulcan culture is very limited, also, it is the weekend, will they not be resting?":

"Records show that someone is always awake. If one of them finds no /logical/ reason to keep you out, then the others shouldn't either."

I considered this and nodded. It did all seem very logical. I stood "What is the room number?"

"eighteen-thirty."

"Thank you, Sir. Do not take this the wrong way, but I hope not to have to come in here again." This made the receptionist laugh, I did not understand why, but he apparently did not take it the wrong way.

I made my way to floor eighteen. The room would be on the left, towards the end of the hall near the corner. Sure enough, there it was. I pressed the button to get the attention of anyone awake. I tried to press it softly, despite knowing it would not affect the loudness. The door opened only a few seconds later.

A Female Vulcan stood there, looking neutral as she should.

"Hello. I am Data. I am a cadet at the academy. We have Probability Mechanics together. May we step out and speak?" I was somewhat uncomfortable talking because I did not want to disturb anyone that might be sleeping.

She stepped out and allowed the door to shut. "I am sorry to bother you, but I find myself without a room. I have been displaced from my previous one and Residential says yours has a free bed."

She turned her head at an angle to mine, staring me straight in the eye. I made a note to ask why Vulcans have this tendency. "Why were you displaced from your previous room?"

"I have been placed in primarily human dorm rooms and they object to my study habits on the basis that I keep them awake."

"So Michel told you about our sleeping habits?"

"Yes. It seems more appropriate for my room to be with you."

"I see no reason why not. Let me wake the others and propose your request."  
>I tried to stop her because I did not want to wake anyone up. She insisted that the others would not mind. It took three minutes, forty-six seconds for her to come back.<p>

"The others could find no reason to not allow you in. Please." She said, moving to the side so I could enter. "I've already programmed the door to let you in." I stepped forward. Half the room was awake, the rest had gone back to sleep.

I did not want to speak because of the three asleep. I just nodded to the three that were awake. This room was larger than the previous ones. It had ten beds. I found the empty one. It still had the sheet set that was placed on it when the quarter started. No one had seen any reason to move it. I made the bed carefully. I needed to move my things. The men from my room would be out by now. I stood and spoke to the woman from before. She was finishing up some work.

"I did not ask for your name. I am sorry."

"T'Svai" She said.

"T'Svai, I need to leave and get my things from the other room. Is that acceptable?"

"You may move about as you wish. No one here is going to stop you." Was all she said, before finishing her paper.

I nodded and left, I had many books to carry and a few other things. It took me less than thirty minutes to get completely moved. I suspected it was not in thoughtfulness that the boys had piled my stuff outside the room, but it was helpful none-the-less. I spent the rest of the day outside. I have always enjoyed being outside in both public and private areas. Public areas give me an easy venue to observe people. Private areas gave me time to test out things I had observed. Some were successful, some were not. Today I observed.

The rest of the day was without incident. I did not see my old roommates, and I returned to my quarters at curfew. Overall, it was not a difficult day. I intended to meet all of my roommates tomorrow before class.


	2. Chapter 2

December 18, 2341

I had been spending some amount of time in the Engineering. The third year robotics students were very interested in me and I was more than willing to let them have a look. I was very clear with the conditions I gave them for their experiments.

I offered to run programs they created after I had carefully reviewed them. They had to be run in a sub-section I created, separate from the rest of my programs. They were allowed to scan all they wanted. Under no circumstances would I shut off or allow any part of myself to be removed.

The most interesting, I ended up integrating into my actual programming. It was a simple program, but not one I would have ever considered creating myself. It was not a program so much as definitions. It gave me new contexts for items I had previously only known as absolutes. A minor grasp on human metaphor. The initial program had thirteen-hundred instances of metaphor with only two hundred different words defined. I requested that she make a program to define words as I encounter them in non-literal contexts. She said she would make it her year-end project.

I spent time there for my own purposes as well. I had very little information as to how I was constructed and, as the only person who was invested in my condition; I decided I needed to be able to do repairs.

One day, I saw something fascinating. A small child, human, came in. He had bandages over his face. I could not understand why he was down here. I went to ask him if he was lost, but the head engineer; Commander Charles Fignian came in with what looked to be a physician. They cut his bandages off. Bandages were a very old concept. They were only very rarely used. This must have been experimental. When they got them off, I could see he was blind. They slipped a device over his eyes and he left with his parents.

I approached the engineer after they were long gone. "That child," I started "He was blind, that device was to give him some rudimentary form of sight?"

The engineer nodded at my conclusions. "I call it the VISOR. Visual Input and Sensory Organ Replacement. I made the first one two years ago. He volunteered and he got his first one at five. I promised him a better one for the winter holiday."

"Does it give him normal visual information?"

"It's better. I was never able to do the visible light spectrum. It's too small of a range to make a reader for. It can read everything from microwave to X-ray. I chunked all the wavelengths and each one is interpreted differently. Since he got it, he's just been discovering the world on his own, like any child. He is so persistent." The man sounded very impressed.

"That does sound like a very admirable trait in a young child." I responded, I did not know how else to do so.

"T'Tau will be here in a few minutes. She said she has a test she wants to do."

"I have three hours, sixteen minutes and fifty five seconds free. She may if she wishes." Commander Fignian nodded and got back to his work.

I waited. Her arrival was prompt to the hour. She quickly located me and walked over. She was Vulcan, but not in my dorm. I'd had fair luck so far with the Vulcans and the room.

"Hello, Data."

"Hello T'Tau. I heard you had an experiment you wanted to conduct?"

"Yes, I formulated one regarding your speech." She sat across from me, impassive.

"Repeat what I say, don't ask any questions." were her instructions.

"Bromide." She started.

"Bromide." I repeated.

"Mide" she said, dropping the bro.

"Mide." I repeated.

"Ide" she dropped the m.

"Ide" I responded

"Ide-lye." Her.

"ide-lye" Me.

"Ide-lyek"

This continued for ten minutes. culminating in "Idelyektugohtuaycalfeh"

"Now, did you hear what was said?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Can you say it for me?"

"I would like to go to a cafe. That is not how we said it though." I was puzzled.

"No. I made you speak with a contraction. It seems you cannot do it when you think of it as a word, but when it is just a sound, it's possible. That's very interesting."

"Yes, it is. It suggests that my hearing speech and other sounds are done in very different ways. I did not realized until after I d repeated it that we were speaking." We tried it again, but this time I was aware of what was going on and froze as i tried to decode the phrase.

"I would like you to go about your day as usual, but when you speak try to use the sounds that contractions are in place of words. We will define the sounds as separate words. I'm will be a word of its own, a referential word regarding your state of being." She said. "We will start with that."

I nodded and stored the definition for use. I had a feeling it would not work. "I will keep logs of my conversations and all relevant processes."

This lead to an interesting happening when I went to tutor a girl from my Exobiology, Sam. She struggled with terminology.

The lesson was going well, as it happens I am a very good tutor. I had become very proficient at reinterpreting data so that I could express it to many different types of learners.

We had just finished. She stood and smiled at me. "Thank you for all your help."

I stood and faced her. "Yam... Yam... Yam... I am glad I could be of service." She walked away looking worried. Yam? I had not expected that.

People reacted oddly to me. Ninety Five percent of people ignored me at all times, but seventy-one percent of the people around us now, reacted when I said 'yam' three times. The word 'yam' had no significance according to my metaphor process. Still, it was interesting, their reactions.

I returned to engineering. A young man from Eastern Europe was interested in my expressions or lack thereof. He made me make faces in a mirror. Before just then, I had never really looked at myself, save the time my face was damaged.

The young man, Daniel, noted that I was very unexpressive and that it made me hard to interact with. He had a large mirror and sat beside me making faces. I tried to copy them. I did not see the purpose in this. I noted other things. My skin tone was very pale and compared to Daniel's red cheeks and peach forehead. I counted six distinct colors to his skin tone. My eyes were also markedly different. I wondered briefly what species I most looked like. I would have to investigate. There were hundreds of humanoids known to Starfleet. It would be an interesting bit of research.

"Did you learn anything with this session?" I asked when Daniel indicated he was done.

"You can move your face... I didn't know that before... I mean, voluntarily. I knew you could move it for speaking purposes."

"I was made to approximate humans in every way. I can move in every way you can, and in some ways you cannot."

"So why don't you? You have no expression when you speak." he asked.

"I have no emotion. So there is no reason for me to have expression." I said. It made sense to me.

"Yeah, but if you tried to... emulate how we move you might get along better with everyone. You kind of creep everyone out." He looked apologetic at having said the words.

That is interesting, I will consider it. I have to leave for class now.

Alright, thanks, Data. Daniel s words made me stop. I did not understand at the time why. It was just... pleasant... to hear my name. I had only heard someone else say it six hundred and fifty nine times and only this time was it in the context of a thanks.

I nodded and left the room. Class would be starting soon and assuming no delays, I would only have three minutes to spare on arriving.


	3. Chapter 3

January 2nd 2341

The end of the calendar year presented an interesting problem for me. The Academy had closed for it so that they could celebrate. I had questioned, with varying success, students from other planets about how they felt about only Earth years being respected on this large scale. The general consensus seemed to be that since Star Fleet was an Earth organization to begin with, and since the United Federation of Planets was based on Earth, that they would need to get used to functioning in this way. It did seem very rational.

To that end, I found myself walking to Talarui's home in the country. She had called just two days ago to invite me to her home where her children would be gathering. I had decided to attend. Last year's gathering had been interesting, but not everyone had been there. I had transported as near to her home as possible and been walking six hours when I arrived.

I knocked on the door and waited. Tamel answered the door. He was her adopted Vulcan child. He looked the part. He had on casual human clothing, but his hair was cut in a traditional Vulcan style. I had met him before.

He stepped back. "Talarui has expressed many times that this is your home and that you do not need to knock. For and android, you behave most illogically." He said as he went to the kitchen.

"Is that Data?" came Talarui's voice. She sounded excited. She was a small, thin woman of nearly advanced age. I knew her to be sixty one years old. In ten more years she would probably retire. She showed no sign of her years though. She walked into the room and directly at me, arms wide. He grabbed my head and kissed it. "I am so glad to see you." Tamel gave me a look that was almost sympathetic. She was very affectionate with everyone.

"I am making a very special dinner tonight, everyone will be here." She said. "Do you want to help us cook?"

I had never cooked before. I did not eat. And when other people ate, it was replicated.

"I will." With that we went to the kitchen.

"I am making a pie. I need you to beat this into meringue." She said, showing me the technique briefly. I understood how it was to work and set about my task. It took me three minutes and forty six seconds to get it to how it needed to be. She congratulated me and took it to put it on a pie, then put that into a small oven.

I chopped a variety of vegetables and spent a great deal of time gently stirring gravy. I helped her to set the food out. Others had arrived while we were cooking and let themselves in. Tamel sat next to his biological brother Ket and his adopted brother Kiolikt, the Klingon. The Betelgeusians sat next to each other, one to my right.

Eating was a lively affair. The Vulcans were mostly quiet, Kiolikt told some loud stories about his past year. The Betelgeusians spoke to each other exclusively in their own language which consisted of light hisses and occasional high pitched noises. I could find no pattern in the pitch or sounds. Talarui sat there and just enjoyed her large family. Twelves minutes into the meal, Talarui put something on my plate.

"Do you eat, Data?" She asked. She had never been too interested in how I function. She had mostly been concerned with how I interacted with others and how I got along at the Academy.

"I do not. I am capable of ingesting food, but I have no use of it." I had never tried, save one glassful of water out of curiosity.

"Well, try it." The table got very quiet and watched me. I realized that I had no idea how humans even ate. I had never watched that specific part of their interactions. She put a bit of what she called 'finger food' on my plate and watched. I picked it up and opened my mouth, set it in, then swallowed.

"No, you ate that like a pill." She said with a laugh. She got another for me and picked one for herself. "Watch me" She bit into it and chewed. I had the impression she was exaggerating for my benefit. I copied her. "That's better!" she said. "What do you think?"

I finished my food before answering, as I had a basic understanding of human manners. "The texture was unusual. Very much unlike the rest of my mouth."

"How did it taste?" She asked.

"I do not have the ability to taste." I paused and looked at the morsel. I could not identify the two types of sauce on the cracker. "The green had a high concentration of Sodium, but the white had a higher concentration of fructose. It was very balanced" I decided aloud. Talarui kept smiling, but I had known her long enough to know that she had not expected that answer. She was probably disappointed. She put a couple other things on my plate and the meal continued. I ate with them, listening to the things going on around me.

My rooming with the Vulcan students had proven very interesting. I had learned a lot about both Vulcan and Human culture from them. Amongst themselves, they had their ways of relaxing and things they enjoyed. They played chess, some played music, they conversed if there was something to talk about and they read. On more than one occasion, though, humans had come into our quarters for studying. They were all very patient with the humans that came in, despite believing that the many breaks for rest and banter were illogical. I had taken away that I should try to be more sociable, to that end, I did occasionally ask questions to help conversation keep moving. I had compiled a list of hundreds of socially acceptable questions for just such occasions.

After dinner, everyone was ready for bed. I would not be sleeping, of course, After everyone had fallen asleep, I decided to go outside. It had started snowing during dinner. I had never seen snow and it was a constant source of wonderment among students at the Academy. Many planets had no snow, and the Academy grounds were weather controlled to prevent such things. A gardener had recounted to him an unfortunate event involving the universe's largest snow man and the Vulcans it fell on. According to the man "there hadn't been an interplanetary incident of that caliber since."

I walked forward, unfamiliar with the land but secure in the knowledge of my location relative to the house. Secure, that is, until I heard a crack. I had walked fifty nine meters from the house through some trees. I was standing in a clearing. I realized I was standing on a lake. A lake I could not see. I decided the best course of action was to crawl to shore, the ice cracked again as I lowered myself. The distribution of my weight to four points of contact from two did not help things. The ice cracked once more and I found myself underwater. I had no protocol for this. I had never anticipated I would find myself underwater for any reason. It was quite deep. I counted ten meters, plus one-half as I sank in the mud. I looked up at the hole. There was no way I was getting out that way I was not buoyant enough for an attempt to be rational.

I could not see the shore, even with my capabilities. I was sunk too deeply in the mud below to walk. It seemed my only option was to stand there. Six hours passed that way. I did have a chance to examine a few living creatures that lived here at the bottom, despite the cold, and a couple of dormant plants. After that time I heard a rhythmic pounding on the ice. Someone was up there. It appeared by the pattern to be bipedal without claws of any sort. they slowed near the edge of the ice, rapidly tapping the surface to ensure it was safe. It was too distant and distorted for me to see who it was, but they moved quickly back across the ice towards the house.

Ten minutes, forty seconds later an orange package dropped down. It was a flotation device. I hooked my arms around it and pulled the cord. I had to get free of the sediment before it pulled me to the surface. Everyone was outside. They had put a large wooden platform down over the hole. It had just a small hole in the center. I was able to pull myself up.

Talarui was crying. She put a large blanket around me and rushed me to the house. I realized I could not hear her words. I had also become very heavy. I was full of water. Everything that could hold water did. I had not stopped my respiration. I calculated two cubic feet of water. I held my hands up and tried to signal that I could not speak because of the water. Ket figured it out first. This did not calm their mother. She panicked and tried to make me lay on a wooden chair on the porch. I did not understand the suggestion until she demonstrated. She wanted me to put my legs up on the head and my head off the foot. The elevation would be enough to get the water out. I complied. It was an unusual sensation, I would call it, having water evacuate my every body cavity.

Ket and Tamel lead Talarui in, saying I deserved some privacy. I was quite thankful for it as this whole process seemed immodest. I was very aware of my modesty program, which was very demanding in these situations. The water was out in two minutes, seventeen seconds. I stood and went to enter the house. I was very wet and my internal temperature was down sixty degrees. This had a couple of undesired effects on my function. I predicted they would normalize before any damage was done.

We finished the holiday in an energetic way. I had been told that I would be picked up at the house by shuttle. It arrived at seven in the evening to deliver me back to the Academy. I parted quickly with Talarui and her family and left. I did not know that I would not be seeing her again.

Today I received word that Talarui had died. She had apparently contracted some weeks earlier a rare virus while studying a plant from Sebtikia VII, a recently discovered planet containing only plant life. Everyone that had contacted the plant had died and she had known it was going to happen. She had been determined to enjoy the holiday. Though I do not feel sadness, I feel it important that she did not suffer. She had simply ceased to function entirely.

Classes resume tomorrow. My room mates have not returned yet.


End file.
